I stumbled across NorthernIrishBlogs.com this morning, which led me to this post at United Irelander (surprisingly, since I thought UI was Dublin-based, but I digress). Apparently United Irelander is concerned that us Nordies are being ignored by our countrymen on the mainland following reports about the Britain's new charities lottery, Monday. According to PlayMonday.com, "To play Monday you must be resident in England, Scotland or Wales". (On asking why this was so, I was old "Play Monday is a society lottery. Government legislation prevents us from operating in Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands. This is not our policy...")

This led to a warning from UI for unionists that "The British want nothing to do with [Northern Ireland] yet the South continue to offer help". Touching (and misguided) though his concern is, it did lead me to think about something. In practical, everyday terms (in other words ignoring abstract concepts like freedom and my British citizenship etc) what consumer goods and services are available to us in Northern Ireland precisely because we are a part of the UK?

Follow up:

My comment on the post, off the top of my head, found that I had my position in the UK to thank for my competitive bank account, free delivery from Amazon and my free iPod (and, potentially, a free Xbox). However I've also recently realised there is something much more important that I owe to Northern Ireland's position in the UK: digital terrestrial TV! Good old Freeview – E4, More4, ITV 2, Sky Sports News, BBC Three, Four and News 24 (probably, in fact, the BBC itself) – all subscription free.

I should also add the availability of broadband (though no TalkTalk "free" broadband - yet), a more competitive mobile market and probably many other products we take for granted. I'm sure there are many more if I had time to sit and think about it, but even based on the above, I'm certain that given the choice I'd rather be a remote and occasionally forgotten part of the United Kingdom, than in a country outside it.

Update
Just remembered: I also run a small internet business. Paypal charge a cross-border fee for transactions on each payment, so being part of the UK has saved me about 7% of my transaction costs over the last year and a half.